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How we’re using new technology to make account applications simple and safe

With our partnership with trusted provider OCR Labs, customers can set up their accounts remotely in minutes, all thanks to the wonders of the latest identity verification technology.

Staying one step ahead of fraud with technology and security.

More and more, technology is stepping in to streamline the admin that comes with setting up bank accounts and carrying out transactions. But as technology keeps moving forward, there are people out there taking advantage of a rise in online banking activity to steal identities and use them to make money. It’s in everybody’s interests to stop any criminal activity coming from identity theft and fraud. So, we’ve introduced a new way for customers to verify their identity using facial biometrics when opening a new account. It’s much easier and more secure than traditional methods. As well as speeding up the application process, it keeps criminals from taking over someone’s identity and setting up false accounts that put them at risk of losing money.

How it works.

When you’re applying for a transaction or savings account with us online, one of the first things we’ll ask you to do is to photograph identity documents using your mobile phone. Our partner, OCR Labs, uses their facial biometrics and optical character recognition technology to read the photo and collect all the important data from your ID – things like your name and date of birth. By automatically adding this to the application form, the technology also help you get through the application process faster.

You’ll be then asked to take a selfie which is compared to the photo from your ID using facial biometrics. This allows the technology to verify that you’re a real live person (not just a photo of a face) and that the person on the ID and the person applying for the account are the same.

A fast and easy experience

This technology does two important things to make opening an account with us much faster and easier. You won’t need to upload a copy any of your documents to share with us or visit a branch to open a new account. Plus, it saves you time filling in a form because much of the data we need for your account is captured by our identity capture process. You’ll be able to check and confirm that everything is correct before submitting your application. This gives every one of our customers an easy, secure way to set up their account, no matter where they live in Alabama. And because we have a secure and trusted way to confirm that you’re a real person and you are who you say you are, we can authorize full access to your account from day one, instead of making you wait as a precaution while we run traditional ID checks.